Minister for Small Business Michaelia Cash leaves after Question Time in the Senate chamber at Parliament House in Canberra. Source: AAP

Senator Michaelia Cash's then-chief of staff was the source of leaks, alerting media to pending federal police raids on the Australian Workers' Union in 2017.

UpdatedUpdated 12 February

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Senator Michaelia Cash's chief of staff Ben Davies was the source of a controversial leak to media about imminent police raids at Australian Workers' Union offices.

David de Garis, a former media adviser to the Senator who admitted passing on leaked details to journalists, was ordered to name his source by Federal Court Justice Mordecai Bromberg on Tuesday.

The union is talking legal action against the Registered Organisations Commission, arguing the federal police raids on the union's Melbourne and Sydney headquarters in October 2017 as part of a commission investigation were politically motivated and therefore unlawful.